Friday, April 29, 2011

A couple weeks ago, we realized that our downstairs blower on one of our furnaces was not working. We thought about hiring a repair guy, but then we realized that between the two of us, we have THREE engineering degrees, so surely we can figure this out, right? Well, we went up in the attic (I was up there in my robe, no less... well, luckily, no less than my robe... that would just be weird) with our multimeter and figured out that the control board was not operating correctly. Jason ordered a new control board on eBay for $79 (including shipping) and installed it tonight. We now have working AC again. I'm pretty sure we just saved a TON of money. I have no idea how much the HVAC guys charge, but I'm glad that our engineering degrees finally came in handy. Now, I just hope the house doesn't burn down next time we turn on the air conditioning.

I'm so proud of you, Jason (aka Mr. Fix-It), for cooling off me and the kiddos!

We have decided that our babies are officially sleeping through the night. For over a week now, they have slept all night long (from 7 PM to 6 or 7 AM) without waking up at all. Jason and I have gotten glorious, uninterrupted sleep! It's wonderful to finally sleep all night long again. Of course, as soon as we get used to this, they will start waking up again... the joy of twins!

It's official! We have our first tooth! Vivienne has a tooth poking through on the bottom left-hand side. It's just barely poking through, but there's no more "Is that a tooth?" It's definitely a tooth. We can feel it with our fingers, but it's not sticking up enough to get a good picture just yet. We'll have some toothy grin pictures up soon, though. I promise!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Grandma (Lila, Jason's mother) is here to visit this week. She arrived on Tuesday and will be staying with us through next Tuesday. Miles and Vivienne have enjoyed all the extra snuggles and hugs from Grandma!

Miles got into a "downward dog" position yesterday. When Grandma would try to put him on his tummy, he would stiffen up and hold himself up on his arms and legs. I'm not sure that he's really going to sustain this, though. He seemed uncertain of how to get himself down from this position, so he started whining a bit.

Miles shows off his yoga skills.

Stephanie and Chloe stopped by to say hi.

Vivienne enjoys playing with Grandma before bed last night.

This afternoon, we met up with our friends, Kristi, Kylie, Caleb and Darcy to play at a playground. Then Lila babysat the babies while Mommy slipped out to do some grocery shopping (super doubles at Harris Teeter - whoohoo!!). I never thought that grocery shopping by myself would be a luxury!

After the babies woke up from their nap, Grandma took them for a long walk while I went for a run. I'm listening to Rob Bell's book, Love Wins, while I'm running. It's been a very interesting "read" so far.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

The babies have done SO well at sleeping through the night lately. And when I say "sleeping through the night," I do not mean that 4-5 hour definition. (Seriously, whose night is 4-5 hours??) I mean that the babies are going down at 7 pm and sleeping until 7 am - 12 straight hours with no breastfeeding. They did it on Wednesday night, Friday night and then again last night. It has been so nice to sleep all night long. I hope they keep up this wonderful new skill!!

Happy Easter! Because we went to church last night, we got to relax this morning. Jason and the babies took a two hour nap, and I was able to get some baking and cooking done. After everyone woke back up, we put the babies back in their Easter best so that we could do another photo shoot. I was really happy with how these pictures turned out.

Later in the afternoon, we went to Pam and Jason's house to have "linner." They made some yummy kabobs and we had potato salad and cucumber salad. It was great to just chill out at their house with Elaine, John and baby Miller. We laughed and ate on the floor and just vegetated and enjoyed each other's company. I hope we can do things like that more often.

Yesterday, we went to our church's Easter service. They have 5 services across Saturday and Sunday, but we opted for Saturday night because it was a good fit for us. We dressed the babies in their special Easter outfits (Vivienne's dress from a consignment sale and Miles' outfit was a hand-me-down from a dear friend). The babies looked rather spiffy and we had to take a few pictures.

She looks like a little cherub in her Easter dress.

How did we get 2 blue-eyed babies?

My two handsome guys.

Our church had an amazing Easter service. Vivienne fell asleep on the ride home. I had to snap a couple pictures of her looking like an angel in her car seat.

Zzzzz...

Our angel is ready for bed!

Our friends, Melissa and Brad, came over after church. We took the opportunity to try to get pictures of the four of us all together outside before the sun set.

Family Easter Portrait

Melissa and Brad

Vivienne loves Miss Melissa.

I love it when Daddy uses me for arm curls!

Vivienne and Miles were very excited to have Melissa and Brad feed them dinner. They gobbled up some chicken, kale, carrots and sweet potatoes.

Melissa refines her feeding technique.

Thanks for feeding us dinner, Melissa and Brad!

After dinner, we gave the babies a bath and put them to bed. Then we grilled some yummy cheeseburgers and had fruit and potato salad. It was so enjoyable to drink some great wine and catch up with good friends. What a wonderful day to remember how richly we have been blessed. He is risen!

Friday, April 22, 2011

I forgot to mention that yesterday, the babies greeted me in the morning with the best birthday gift ever. They had slept all the way through the night again. This makes the third time that they have done that. Here's to hoping that they give us many repeat performances. Ahhhhh...

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Today was my 32nd birthday. I woke up this morning thinking about how blessed I am with a wonderful husband and two amazing babies. This was the perfect occasion to think about all of the blessings in my life. It was a beautiful, ordinary day running errands with the babies and running with the stroller on the Greenway.

Miles, Vivienne and I went to Kids Together Park to celebrate our friend, Olivia's, first birthday. Her mom, Sara, made the most delicious little cupcakes using a recipe from the Super Baby Food book. Miles and Vivienne enjoyed playing with the other babies and soaking up some sunshine.

Olivia, the birthday girl, shares her soap with Vivienne.

Miles is excited about the Easter eggs.

The birthday girl enjoys her cupcakes.

Miles is REALLY excited about the Easter eggs.

Hey - that's a nice shovel you have there.

Hold that shovel still so that I can taste it!

Greg and Alex are looking cute as ever.

Olivia is steering the ship.

This evening, Jason surprised me with dinner. He cooked salmon, broccoli and sweet potatoes. We enjoyed some wonderful wine that was gifted to us from our California friends, and then we ate some cookie dough ice cream. What an awesome birthday!

Every Wednesday, we get together with our good friends, the M Family. Kristi and Ian have the most beautiful, sweetest children, and I love spending time with them. Over the winter, we would usually meet at a Chick-fil-a so that the kids could burn off some steam on a playground and we could eat some yummy chicken. Now that the weather is a lot nicer, we're meeting at playgrounds and spending more time outdoors. Yesterday, we walked around Shelley Lake while the kiddos rode their bikes. Kylie even pushed Vivienne and Miles in the BOB for a good stretch.

For dinner, Miles and Vivienne enjoyed another concoction of chicken, kale and prunes. It's good to know that they are eating their protein now.

Earlier this week, we went on a 6+ mile walk with our dear friend, Pam. It was a great workout and a great conversation. Just before we left, I had to take some pictures of my beautiful girl in her new berry shirt - a hand-me-down from our sweet friends in California. Thanks for the awesome clothes!

This green dinosaur puppet sure is tasty!

That evening, Miles and Vivienne practiced standing at their musical table. They really love that toy. Every time we get it out, it's a real treat for them.